2014 Winter Olympicshttp://usahockeymagazine.com/taxonomy/term/1137/all
enThe New Gold Standardhttp://usahockeymagazine.com/article/2014-04/new-gold-standard
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USA Hockey Development System Continues To Create High End Players And Even Higher Expectations </div>
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By:&nbsp;</div>
<a href="/node/102">Cameron Eickmeyer</a> </div>
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<p class="p1"><strong><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/New_Gold_Standard_1.jpg" alt="Throughout the early stages of the tournament in Sochi, the U.S. Men&#039;s Olympic Team showed flashes of brilliance, notching 20 goals in its first four games before hitting a dry spell against Canada and Finland to finish off of the medals podium." title="Throughout the early stages of the tournament in Sochi, the U.S. Men&#039;s Olympic Team showed flashes of brilliance, notching 20 goals in its first four games before hitting a dry spell against Canada and Finland to finish off of the medals podium." class="image image-_original " width="525" height="350" /><span class="caption" style="width: 523px;">Throughout the early stages of the tournament in Sochi, the U.S. Men's Olympic Team showed flashes of brilliance, notching 20 goals in its first four games before hitting a dry spell against Canada and Finland to finish off of the medals podium.</span></span></strong></p>
<p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Two heartbreaking losses in the medal round at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games led to a lot of hand wringing among the U.S. Men&rsquo;s Team&rsquo;s management and set off a firestorm among fans on social media.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">One thing is clear, however, there is a new gold standard whenever a U.S. National Team takes the ice at an international tournament. Long gone are the days of miracles, surprises and satisfaction over respectable finishes on the international arena.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a miracle for us winning a gold medal,&rdquo; U.S. head coach Dan Bylsma said in response to another question tying this year&rsquo;s team to the &ldquo;Miracle on Ice&rdquo; squad from 1980.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">While expectations have increased, so has the caliber of player climbing through the USA Hockey development ladder.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">&ldquo;Bottom line, I believe at every level we play, in all men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s age levels and championships, we have a team that we feel is capable of winning,&rdquo; said Jim Johannson, USA Hockey&rsquo;s assistant executive director of Hockey Operations.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">The team that battled the likes of Russia and Canada in Sochi featured seven players younger than 25, and nine more who have yet to reach their 30th birthday. The young team came within one goal of reaching the gold-medal game for the second consecutive Olympics, which proves that youth no longer equals inexperience at these events.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">The youngest player to suit up for the U.S. in Sochi, defenseman Justin Faulk, 21, is far from an international hockey rookie, as would have been the case in generations past. Faulk has logged 33 games in a U.S. sweater in five international tournaments, winning two bronze medals and a gold.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">Cam Fowler, another young but immensely talented defenseman, was asked where the thrilling shootout victory over Russia ranked in his international hockey career.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><strong><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/New_Gold_Standard_2.jpg" alt="Young players like John Carlson provide a bright future for USA Hockey, which is no longer content to just field competitive teams at international events." title="Young players like John Carlson provide a bright future for USA Hockey, which is no longer content to just field competitive teams at international events." class="image image-_original " width="525" height="350" /><span class="caption" style="width: 523px;">Young players like John Carlson provide a bright future for USA Hockey, which is no longer content to just field competitive teams at international events.</span></span></strong></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s certainly up there,&rdquo; said Fowler, who won a gold medal along with fellow Olympians Jon Carlson and Derek Stepan at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">That a 23-year-old player is not star struck by one of the most exciting games in Olympic history speaks volumes.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">Two developments in the American hockey system are fueling this expansion of talent and gold-medal expectations. The first was the creation of the National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich., which was established in 1998.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">Men&rsquo;s Under-18 National Teams composed largely of NTDP players have medaled in every IIHF Men&rsquo;s Under-18 World Championship since 2004, winning gold six times.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">&ldquo;I think they&rsquo;ve done an outstanding job and the end results speak for themselves,&rdquo; Johannson said. &ldquo;Obviously we&rsquo;ve seen great results at a lot of levels, [including] the Under 18, the Under 20 and even past Olympic teams.&rdquo;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">Nine members of the U.S. Olympic Team played at the NTDP, including Phil Kessel, who posted eight points and was named the tournament&rsquo;s top forward in Sochi.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">&ldquo;Seeing nine players on this team that came from the core of that program speaks volumes about the NTDP, number one, but secondly raises the bar across all of USA Hockey,&rdquo; Johannson said.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">The success with the NTDP helped lead to a change in fortune at the World Junior Championships as well.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">With only two bronze medals and a silver medal in the first 29 years of the tournament&rsquo;s existence, the 2004 U.S. National Junior Team broke through to win the country&rsquo;s first gold medal. On that roster were 15 players from the NTDP, including 2014 Olympians Ryan Suter and Ryan Kesler.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really know about international hockey before I went to Ann Arbor. Going there really opened my eyes to the world of hockey,&rdquo; Suter said.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">In recent years the U.S. has won two more gold medals and a bronze. While the rosters aren&rsquo;t exclusively composed of NTDP alumni, the players who come from the program enter the World Junior Championship as seasoned international players at, in some cases, only 17 years old.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">&ldquo;Just from playing in those certain tournaments you feel like you&rsquo;ve been here before, whether it&rsquo;s being overseas or being put through these situations,&rdquo; said Patrick Kane, who credits the NTDP for igniting his launch to superstardom.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great program to get yourself jumpstarted for situations like [the Olympics], and as a hockey player too.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">Johannson said the medal haul in tournaments that these players have competed in are both a harbinger of future results as well as a way to instill the expectation of success at a young age.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">&ldquo;The hope and belief is that success breeds success and also carries into the room and on the ice,&rdquo; he said.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">He points to the 1984 birth year as breaking through with winning Under-18 and Under-20 gold medals. Those players grew up with the experience of winning at the international level, so when the chance to make another national team comes along, they are ready and eager to win a gold medal.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">&ldquo;We have confident players at all levels that are trained and play at a level to win championships,&rdquo; Johannson said. &ldquo;Making the teams at all of these levels is now the first challenge for all USA players.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">Always looking toward the future, Johannson said that while the U.S. system has reached a point of gold-medal expectations, the next phase for American hockey is to consistently achieve those goals.</span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1" style="line-height: 1.5em;"><em>Cameron Eickmeyer is the managing editor of </em></span><span class="s3" style="line-height: 1.5em;">USAHockey.com</span><span class="s1" style="line-height: 1.5em;"><em>.</em></span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s1" style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #7d7b84;">Photos By </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #7d7b84;">Jeff Cable</span></p>
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<a href="/issue/2014-04">2014-04</a> </div>
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http://usahockeymagazine.com/article/2014-04/new-gold-standard#comments2014 Winter OlympicsSochi Olympics 2014FeatureMon, 07 Apr 2014 14:58:44 +0000admin9985 at http://usahockeymagazine.comThe One That Got Away: U.S. Women's Team Olympic Recaphttp://usahockeymagazine.com/article/2014-03/one-got-away-us-womens-team-olympic-recap
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The U.S. Looks For Silver Lining In Heartbreaking Loss In Gold-Medal Game </div>
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By:&nbsp;</div>
<a href="/node/12">Harry Thompson</a> </div>
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<p><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/Womens_recap.jpg" alt="Hilary Knight and Kelli Stack storm the Canadian net." title="Hilary Knight and Kelli Stack storm the Canadian net." class="image image-_original " width="525" height="350" /><span class="caption" style="width: 523px;">Hilary Knight and Kelli Stack storm the Canadian net.</span></span></p>
<p>The look of disappointment can wear many masks.</p>
<p>It can show as shock and disbelief after watching a two-goal lead evaporate in the final 3:26 of the gold-medal game.</p>
<p>Or as a feeling of exasperation after coming a half an inch away from icing the game with a potential clinching goal that hits the post rather than curling into the Canadian empty net.</p>
<p>Or reveal itself in the pained expression that comes with the realization that the dream that you worked so hard to achieve was within your grasp and was snatched away in the blink of an eye.</p>
<p>Losing is never easy, but the U.S. Women&rsquo;s Olympic Team&rsquo;s 3-2 overtime loss in the gold-medal game was as gut-wrenching a defeat as any of them have ever experienced. And that includes head coach Katey Stone, who took a hiatus from her 18-year coaching post at Harvard University to prepare this group of 21 women for just such a moment on the biggest stage in their sport.</p>
<p>&nbsp;&ldquo;They&rsquo;re all different. My other team played for three national championships in a row. Those [losses] were hard, too,&rdquo; said Stone who made history as the first woman to coach a U.S. Olympic Team.</p>
<p>&ldquo;This is very difficult because of the people who have been around this program, and the commitment and dedication of all of these athletes. There really isn&rsquo;t much to say. You can&rsquo;t take the sting away.&rdquo;</p>
<p>There&rsquo;s a fine line between the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. For the U.S. that line was crossed with 55 seconds to go as they clung to a 2-1 lead. Then, suddenly, the lead was gone in the whisk of Marie-Philip Poulin&rsquo;s stick.</p>
<p>Seconds earlier, Kelli Stack had a golden opportunity to put the game out of reach when she outraced Canadian defenseman Catherine Ward and chipped the puck down the ice and toward the goal vacated by Shannon Szabados. The puck took a slight turn at the last second and hit the post straight on.</p>
<p>In a game that was by all accounts a battle of wills, Stack could not will the puck a half an inch to the right.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I was thinking &lsquo;oh, that would be nice if that had gone in,&rdquo; said Stack, whose poise afterward yielded hundreds of marriage proposals on Twitter. &ldquo;We were still up a goal so I was thinking, &lsquo;it&rsquo;s not that big of a deal. Then after they tied it up, that was the worst feeling in the world.&rdquo;</p>
<p>While it will take time for the pain to slowly fade, the silver lining, if there is one, comes from knowing that women&rsquo;s hockey was once again on the world stage and put on one heck of a show.</p>
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<h2>&ldquo;Everyone played their heart out, <br />and that&rsquo;s all you can expect from your teammates at the end of the day.&rdquo; <br /></h2>
<h5>&mdash; Hilary Knight<br /></h5>
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<p>The NBC broadcast that aired in the early morning hours back home averaged 4.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched hockey game in the U.S., excluding Stanley Cup Finals, since the men&rsquo;s gold-medal game in 2010. The stream of the game on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app was watched by 1.2 million unique users.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We really helped put women&rsquo;s hockey on the map, and I just hope it continues,&rdquo; said Hilary Knight, whose penalty in overtime set up a 4-on-3 power play that led to the golden goal. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great game and a hidden gem that people are suddenly finding so it&rsquo;s good.&rdquo;</p>
<p>It was only four years ago that IOC president Jacques Rogge threw down the gauntlet on women&rsquo;s hockey to become more competitive. While many supporters viewed Rogge at the time like the school bully looking to take away the girls' lunch money, in reality he was issuing the challenge for other federations to follow the lead of USA Hockey and Hockey Canada to invest more resources in their women&rsquo;s programs.</p>
<p>The International Ice Hockey Federation took that challenge to heart and invested resources to help other countries to improve, but it will take time and an attitude adjustment when it comes to supporting the women&rsquo;s game.</p>
<p>But as these countries continue to take baby steps in their game, the U.S. and Canada make giant strides in their off-ice nutrition, strength and conditioning programs and the high-level coaching they receive every day.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We should talk less about what if the gap is getting bigger and more on how we are going to keep closing the gap, in my opinion,&rdquo; said Stone, who champions the recruitment of more European players into the U.S. collegiate system.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s about focusing on the positive, and I think these women are knocking themselves out to put out the best possible product that they can for our sport. It&rsquo;s only going to get better if people continue to stay positive.&rdquo;</p>
<p>One positive was that there weren&rsquo;t the lopsided losses like in past Olympics. Much of that can be attributed to better goaltending and a reshuffling of the deck in the preliminary round. Fledgling teams like Japan and Germany no longer have to endure double-digit losses to the North American powerhouses. Most games in the tournament were competitive and many were entertaining to watch.</p>
<p>But compared to the two games played by the U.S. and Canada on the big ice, other games looked like they were played on pudding. It&rsquo;s a different game played at a different speed with a different class of player, as evidenced in the U.S. squad&rsquo;s 6-1 semifinal win in which they put 70 shots on goaltenders Valentina Wallner and Kim Martin Hasson. Talk about shooting Swedish fish in a barrel.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the U.S. and Canada&rsquo;s fault that they are good,&rdquo; said Swedish head coach Niclas Hogberg. &ldquo;I think they should go on so that we have something to look up to as we try to improve our game.&rdquo;</p>
<p><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/Womens_recap4.jpg" alt="Jessie Vetter closed the door on the Canadians until the very end of the gold-medal game." title="Jessie Vetter closed the door on the Canadians until the very end of the gold-medal game." class="image image-_original " width="525" height="350" /><span class="caption" style="width: 523px;">Jessie Vetter closed the door on the Canadians until the very end of the gold-medal game.</span></span></p>
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<p>After losing to Canada, 2-0, in the gold-medal game in Vancouver, the U.S. brain trust embarked on a three-year plan to create a winning formula. No detail was overlooked and no resource was spared. The end result was a team that was ready to take the next step on the Olympic stage.</p>
<p>Now it will be another four years before they get another shot in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Both the U.S. and Canada are likely to undergo facelifts as trailblazing players exit their respective programs and the next wave of highly skilled players take their place.</p>
<p>Just as the lessons learned in Vancouver made this a better team, the painful reminders of the gold medal that slipped through their grasp here in Sochi will fuel the competitive fire to burn even hotter four years down the road.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Everyone played their heart out, and that&rsquo;s all you can expect from your teammates at the end of the day,&rdquo; Knight said. &ldquo;To look down [the bench] to the right and to the left and know that you can rely on one another is a pretty special feeling. It&rsquo;s just been an incredible journey and I&rsquo;m fortunate to have been a part of it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>But the team that was built with one goal in mind once again found itself watching the Canadians celebrate at center ice. The look of heartbreak and disappointment was hard to mask. It will take some time but someday they can look back and know that they still accomplished something pretty special.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Hopefully people don&rsquo;t see us as being disappointed in the moment, that we don&rsquo;t appreciate being Olympians and don&rsquo;t appreciate the silver medals around our necks because we absolutely do,&rdquo; said Julie Chu, who was bestowed with the honor of carrying the Stars &amp; Stripes in the closing ceremony.</p>
<p>&ldquo;As competitors you want to be the best in the world. There&rsquo;s nothing to be ashamed of today. Be proud of the way we played and be proud of the team we are.</p>
<p>&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not going to sugarcoat it, it&rsquo;s tough. I wanted a different result. We wanted a different result.&rdquo;</p>
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<h2></h2>
<h2><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://usahockeymagazine.com/sites/default/files/images/Womens_recap3.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-_original " width="525" height="373" /></span><br /></h2>
<h2>Women's Game-by-Game Recap<br /></h2>
<p><strong><br />USA 3, Finland 1<br />Feb. 8, 2014<br />At Shayba Arena</strong><br />Determined to avenge a stinging loss at the Four Nations Cup, the U.S. Women&rsquo;s Olympic Team extracted a measure of revenge in the opening game of the Olympic tournament with a dominating 3-1 victory over Finland.</p>
<p>The U.S. employed a stifling defense to hold the Finns to eight shots against Jessie Vetter, who was seldom tested but came up with the saves when called upon.</p>
<p>With Noora Raty&rsquo;s 58-save performance in Lake Placid still fresh in their minds, the U.S. knew they needed to get to her early. Hilary Knight picked off an errant pass and beat Raty on the stick side to give the Americans a 1-0 lead just 53 seconds into the game.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Whenever you can get a goal, especially in the first minute, it kind of deflates the other team,&rdquo; Knight said of scoring the fastest goal in women's Olympic history.</p>
<p>Alex Carpenter scored her first Olympic goal, and Kelli Stack added a goal to round out the U.S. scoring.</p>
<p><strong>USA 9, Switzerland 0<br />Feb. 10, 2014<br />At Shayba Arena</strong><br />Facing just 10 shots, many taken from as far away as Geneva, Molly Schaus led a solitary existence in goal as the U.S. routed Switzerland, 9-0.</p>
<p>The Lamoureux sisters teamed up for a pair of goals, both by Monique, and Amanda Kessel added a pair of first-period tallies as the U.S. jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening frame.</p>
<p>Kendall Coyne also scored a pair of third-period goals, and Brianna Decker added her first of the tournament.</p>
<p>Without a 44-save effort from former Northeastern University goaltender Florence Schelling, the final outcome would have been much worse.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been seeing that all year long,&rdquo; Schaus said of her teammates&rsquo; offensive onslaught of Schelling, who was named the tournament MVP.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no big surprise knowing what they can do up there. Our forwards are so skilled that if you give them an opportunity they can put up goals quickly.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Canada 3, USA 2<br />Feb. 12, 2014<br />At Shayba Arena</strong><br />The U.S. had beaten the Canadians the last four times they met leading up to Sochi. But these are the Olympics, a tournament where the Canadians have not lost since the gold-medal game in 1998.</p>
<p>Three third-period goals, including one that appeared to go in after the whistle, helped the Canadians rally in what was a typical hard-fought game.</p>
<p>Despite playing more on their heels than on their toes, the U.S. drew first blood on Hilary Knight&rsquo;s power-play goal in the second period.</p>
<p>The Canadians stormed back on a pair of goals from Megan Agosta, and another from Hayley Wickenheiser.</p>
<p>Anne Schleper&rsquo;s goal with an extra attacker drew the Americans within a goal, but it was too little, too late.</p>
<p>The loss left the U.S. second in their pool, and led them to three days of intense film study and practices to clean up a few things before the semifinals.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We can definitely tweak a few things and do a little bit better, but overall I thought we played a good game and came up a little bit short,&rdquo; Jessie Vetter said after her 28-save performance.</p>
<h3>Semifinals</h3>
<p><strong>USA 6, Sweden 1<br />Feb. 17, 2014<br />At Shayba Arena</strong><br />Eight years after suffering the most shocking defeat in the short history of women&rsquo;s Olympic hockey, the U.S. Women&rsquo;s Team was not ready to see the past repeat itself as they pounded by Sweden, 6-1, to punch their ticket to the gold-medal game.</p>
<p>The U.S. used its speed to throw a blanket over the Swedish defenders, pressuring the puck to create turnovers that led to great scoring chances. The U.S. out shot Sweden 70-9, their highest shot total since peppering China with 71 shots in 2002.</p>
<p>Six different players scored for the U.S., including Alex Carpenter, who led the U.S. with 4 goals in <br />the tournament.</p>
<p>If not for the stellar play of Swedish goaltenders Valentina Wallner, who was pulled after surrendering her fifth goal on 47 shots, and Kim Martin Hasson, the final score could have been much worse.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We were the kind of team we&rsquo;re used to seeing, aggressive, going forward and not backing up, moving the puck very well,&rdquo; said head coach Katey Stone. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re building here and hopefully the best is yet to come.&rdquo;</p>
<h3>Gold-Medal Game</h3>
<p><strong>Canada 3, USA 2, OT<br />Feb. 20, 2014<br />At Bolshoy Ice Dome</strong><br />In what may be the most stinging loss in the history of this storied rivalry, the U.S. saw a two-goal lead evaporate in the final 3:26 as the Canadians waged a fierce comeback to tie the game in the final minute and then win it in overtime.</p>
<p>Marie-Philip Poulin, the hero of the gold-medal game in 2010, once again led the way for Canada with a pair of goals, including the game winner during a 4-on-3 power play in overtime.</p>
<p>The U.S. jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Meghan Duggan and Alex Carpenter, and the gold medal they had worked so hard to achieve was within their grasp.</p>
<p>The Canadians kept pushing and finally broke Jessie Vetter&rsquo;s shutout streak with a goal from Brianne Jenner that deflected off of Kacey Bellamy&rsquo;s knee.</p>
<p>As the Canadians continued to storm the U.S. zone after pulling their goaltender Shannon Szabados, Kelli Stack&rsquo;s long clearing attempt hit the post.</p>
<p>Given a new life, the Canadians kept up the pressure until Poulin&rsquo;s wrist shot tied the game with 55 seconds left.</p>
<p>The U.S. controlled the better of the play early in overtime with Szabados robbing Bellamy from in close. A string of penalties put the U.S. in a hole and Poulin made them pay.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re up 2-0 with five minutes to go it&rsquo;s a hard lesson to learn now but we have to learn to put those away,&rdquo; said Jocelyne Lamourex. &ldquo;It only comes around once every four years so it&rsquo;s kind of hard to swallow right now.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The victory marked the Canadians fourth straight Olympic gold medal and left the U.S. wondering what they need to do to get over the silver-medal hump.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the moment was too big. We had the game in hand,&rdquo; Stone said. &ldquo;That puck that goes down the ice and hits the post, it could have been over then. So when those types of things happen in the game of hockey you start to wonder if it is your night.&rdquo;</p>
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<a href="/issue/2014-03">2014-03</a> </div>
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http://usahockeymagazine.com/article/2014-03/one-got-away-us-womens-team-olympic-recap#comments2014 Winter OlympicsSochi Olympics 2014US Womens Olympic TeamFeatureMon, 17 Mar 2014 15:41:16 +0000admin9903 at http://usahockeymagazine.comBig Ice Issueshttp://usahockeymagazine.com/article/big-ice-issues
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U.S. Looks To Get Faster In Hopes Of Catching Up On Larger Ice Surface </div>
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By:&nbsp;</div>
<a href="/author/ryan-satkowiak">Ryan Satkowiak</a> </div>
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<p><span class="inline inline-none"><img src="http://ushockeymagazine.net/sites/default/files/images/97178721.preview.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-preview " width="525" height="350" /></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Since the first NHL player stepped foot onto Olympic ice in 1998, competitions held outside of North America have not been kind to teams from North America.</span></p>
<p>In Nagano, Japan, both the Americans and Canadians finished out of the money in the first Olympic ice hockey tournament to feature professional players. Neither country fared much better in Torino, Italy in 2006, as both bowed out in the quarterfinals.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Conversely, in both Salt Lake in 2002 and Vancouver in 2010, the two countries met in the gold-medal game, with the Americans bringing home a silver medal on both occasions.</p>
<p>This time around, the competition will be back outside of that North American comfort zone, this time in Sochi, Russia.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Why Team USA hasn&rsquo;t had success outside of North America is a question with no definitive answer. David Poile, general manager of the 2014 U.S. Olympic Team, tried to tackle that question during a teleconference to formally introduce the U.S. preliminary roster.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The obvious answer is North American players grew up playing a different style of game than the European players; they grew up on a different sized ice surface,&rdquo; said Poile, the GM of the Nashville Predators. &ldquo;What we need to do to change, I don&rsquo;t have those answers right now.&ldquo;</p>
<p>The size of the ice surface seems to be the simplest answer. After all, both the 1998 and 2006 Olympics were played on the larger, IIHF-sanctioned ice sheet, which is 15 feet wider (200 feet long by 100 feet wide) than the NHL-sized rink that was used in Vancouver.</p>
<p>European players grew up playing on the larger ice, leading them to form more skilled, less physical styles of play than North American players. Playing on the larger surface in international tournaments allows them to return to a familiar setting.</p>
<p>Even with the results of the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, which, despite being played on North American soil, was played on the larger ice surface, the United States has generally struggled on the larger ice in international competition.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In the past 18 IIHF-sanctioned tournaments, since 1998, that were played on the large ice &mdash; 15 World Championships, three Olympics &mdash; the United States has won only three medals &mdash; silver in the 2002 Olympics, bronze in the 2004 and 2013 IIHF World Championships.&nbsp;</p>
<p>With the 2014 Olympic Winter Games heading back to the larger ice sheet, the final U.S. roster could end up looking a little different than in did in 2010.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline-left"><img src="http://ushockeymagazine.net/sites/default/files/images/97178751.img_assist_custom-280x187.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image-img_assist_custom-280x187 " width="280" height="187" /></span>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll probably have to look for a little more foot speed, overall,&rdquo; said Jim Johannson, assistant executive director of Hockey Operations. &ldquo;But I still think the north-south way we play is still going to be very prevalent, pressuring pucks all over the ice and guys who play up-tempo hockey &hellip; but on the larger ice you, ideally, need to be faster and quicker.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The U.S. National Team Advisory Group has already had discussions regarding a potential shift in philosophy. Following a successful run in Vancouver that featured a more physical team, adjectives like &ldquo;truculent&rdquo; and &ldquo;grit&rdquo; could be swapped out for &ldquo;fast&rdquo; and &ldquo;skilled.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Our philosophy and our strategy is going to change a little bit and I think it&rsquo;s pretty obvious why. It&rsquo;s not in a North American arena; it&rsquo;s in Europe with a bigger ice surface,&rdquo; Poile said.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Whether it&rsquo;s a skating component versus a physical component, whether it&rsquo;s just a different type of player that we&rsquo;ve overlooked before, those are the types of decisions that we&rsquo;re going to have to make.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On the American&rsquo;s side, however, is momentum. Not just momentum from the silver medal at the most recent Olympics, but also from the most recent international competition.</p>
<p>The Men&rsquo;s National Team won bronze at the 2013 IIHF World Championship. It was just the third time since 1963 that the Americans brought home a medal at the World Championships. The games were also played on the larger ice in Finland and Sweden.</p>
<p>The success at that competition earned some players a spot in Olympic orientation camp. With expectations sky-high following an improbable run to the gold medal game in 2010, the U.S. staff will not only be looking for players who can excel on the larger ice, but also for players who have excelled in international competition.</p>
<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re looking for people who have had success, that&rsquo;s number one,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got guys who have played a lot internationally. You look at guys who have won, where they won, who they&rsquo;ve played with. There&rsquo;s going to be some turnover here.</p>
<p>&ldquo;So when we make these final decisions and we choose player A over player B, it&rsquo;s because we think he can be successful in Sochi, in Europe. It might be different from a choice we made in Vancouver.&rdquo;</p>
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http://usahockeymagazine.com/article/big-ice-issues#comments2014 Winter OlympicsCanadaDavid PoileIIHFNaganoNorth AmericaSochiTorinoWorld ChampionshipsOnline Bonus ContentTue, 23 Jul 2013 19:36:57 +0000harryt8930 at http://usahockeymagazine.com